Small yellow light following jetliner
My home is in north central Phoenix, along the approach pattern for aircraft landing at the local airport. (sky harbor) I am familiar with most types of aircraft (civilian and military) and can usually identify them quickly, due to their low altitude. (about 5000 feet) Most of the aircraft are Boeing 737's, moving from due east to due west flying the approach to Sky Harbor, though there are a few Air Bus 300's, Boeing 757's, and MD-80's. On Tuesday evening (3/27/01) at about 9:30 pm I was standing in my backyard. There were a few aircraft in the approach pattern, I would say one every 3 to 5 minutes. As I looked to the south I noticed an aircraft (looked like a Boeing 757) moving from south west, to northeast, passing just east of my position. I then noticed a very small, dim yellow light which seemed to be following the 757 about one and a half plane lengths behind. As the jet got closer (to me) the light began a slow arc to the northwest, executing a turn of roughly 90 degrees. If I had to estimate the size of the light, I would say it was less than 10 feet in diameter, based on its proximity to the aircraft. The strangest thing of all was the way in which the light moved. It was like a fish swimming. It continued on a northwest course and just "blinked out" after about 10 seconds
My home is in north central Phoenix, along the approach pattern for aircraft landing at the local airport. (sky harbor) I am familiar with most types of aircraft (civilian and military) and can usually identify them quickly, due to their low altitude. (about 5000 feet) Most of the aircraft are Boeing 737's, moving from due east to due west flying the approach to Sky Harbor, though there are a few Air Bus 300's, Boeing 757's, and MD-80's. On Tuesday evening (3/27/01) at about 9:30 pm I was standing in my backyard. There were a few aircraft in the approach pattern, I would say one every 3 to 5 minutes. As I looked to the south I noticed an aircraft (looked like a Boeing 757) moving from south west, to northeast, passing just east of my position. I then noticed a very small, dim yellow light which seemed to be following the 757 about one and a half plane lengths behind. As the jet got closer (to me) the light began a slow arc to the northwest, executing a turn of roughly 90 degrees. If I had to estimate the size of the light, I would say it was less than 10 feet in diameter, based on its proximity to the aircraft. The strangest thing of all was the way in which the light moved. It was like a fish swimming. It continued on a northwest course and just "blinked out" after about 10 seconds
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Off
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Phoenix
USA
90 seconds
90 seconds
33.50
-112.08
light
AZ
Occurred : 3/27/2001 21:30 (Entered as : 03/27/01 21:30) Reported: 3/27/2001 23:49 Posted: 4/1/2001 Location: Phoenix, AZ Shape: Light Duration: 90 seconds Characteristics: There were aircraft in the vicinity or aircraft chasing the object
Small yellow light following jetliner